I'm From the Government and I'm Here to Stop You

Ronald Reagan had an incredible gift of the ability to personalize his message for the average American. Many of his quotes have become near slogans for constitutional conservatives, who work to limit government, especially this one: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

That pretty much sums up the fear job-creators have in an over-reaching all-powerful government. While the government doesn't really come to you specifically and tell you it's trying to help you, it rather does that during the scam-and-pass phase in Congress. The big rollout of a few thousand page bill costing a cool trillion must be all about helping every individual, right? So, while "helping" 30 million uninsured, Obamacare's resisters were assuaged by the, "If you like your plan, you can keep it" line - until, of course, five million people found out that was a lie. Not that it's a big deal, since all of liberalism is based on lies. Just wait until the 30 million realize they've been given Medicaid and a severely slowed system.

A federal government far too large to be efficient at anything sounds like a good thing to avoid for most people. So, many pundits have made the comparison of the Department of Motor Vehicles and its inefficiencies and annoyances, with the looming health care debacle, and asked, "Would you want to stand in line like that for health care?" But all of that is over with now. Those types of arguments were for when they were, "passing it so we can see what's in it." The government that was there to help, helped themselves to our utmost personal privacy, that which we normally would only share with our doctor.

And, now comes the compliance/enforcement stage.

Barack Obama, the leader of the federal leviathan, is not unaware that the federal government is humongous. He has, after all, already told us that he intends to consolidate some of it, but not to make it smaller, to make many agencies into one really big one, namely, the one that has to do with you starting a business.

"We have got, for example, 16 different agencies that have some responsibility to help businesses, large and small, in all kinds of ways, whether it's helping to finance them, helping them to export.

And so, if you're a small business person getting started, you may think you need to go to the Small Business Administration on one thing, you have got to go to Commerce on another. So, we have proposed, let's consolidate a bunch of that stuff."

Note the use of, "that have some responsibility to help...all kinds of ways...helping...helping." Put against Obama's commentary, Reagan's quote does make a lot of sense, and it is because of the government's misplaced "responsibility" in "helping" you start a business in the first place that swears off thousands of would-be entrepreneurs, for many specific reasons, mainly but not limited to the existence of the government's enforcement arm.

The IRS is the enforcement arm of Obamacare, but it is not the only department to force compliance. Each separate department has its own ideas on what constitutes compliance and the civil or criminal penalty for disobedience. Take, for example, the EPA.

The EPA has the ability to force a small business out of business by simply changing a rule of theirs in favor of a very large, very deep-pocketed corporation, which, in return for helping uphold federal policy, wants to extinguish all competition. The government, having effectively eliminated dissent by stating the rules that big business will follow, now has a partner in your "compliance." To make you comply, they simply outlaw your product, and suggest criminal penalties if you try to protest, flexing that muscle the entire time of your interaction.

The federal government's enforcement arm is muscle-bound; it is not designed for agility, it is not flexible, it stays flexed.

It lives and thrives on making you comply. It means you can't do it your way, you have to do it the government's way, and if not, you will be sued, fined and even thrown in jail. And now, under an administration that regards the constitution as a document that says, "what the federal government can't do to you, but it doesn't say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf," we have a government so "helpful," it is smothering and choking and stopping you from doing nearly everything.

But, don't worry; it's all done on your behalf. Really.

Reagan had another quote, "Let us cut through the fog for a moment. The answer to a government that's too big is to stop feeding its growth." Yes, that is what we need, but right now the federal government isn't run by the best president in modern times, it is run by the one who keeps taking your liberties, while working, "on your behalf," which is really on government's behalf - and all of it on your dime.

The leaders in government say they know what's best, and they have the ultimate ability to make you agree.